Kris and Katrina were married surrounded by one of the most wonderful groups of people I have ever had the pleasure of spending time with on a wedding day. It felt so little like shooting a wedding, and so much like spending time with family. And for those of you that know either of these two, understanding that feeling is simple, as its how they make everyone they meet feel. This was our last wedding of the season, and what an incredible one to finish on. Fall leaves and gentle winds led us through a ceremony and reception filled with laughter, cheers, and smiles. Congratulations you two, not only on your wedding, but on creating a real life fairy tale. All our best, Andrew & Stacey.

As I boarded the plane in Vancouver, British Columbia. My camera bag slung over one shoulder, boarding pass held tightly in one hand so as not to let it drift into the crowd, I thought back over all the weekends I had met up with Christopher on rally stages around North America. And now, here we were, about to meet again on another weekend, in a very different setting. It was an honour to have been asked to photograph Christopher and Allisons wedding in Montreal, Quebec. Far from the pacific ocean and mountains that usually acted as backdrop for my wedding photos, the city of Montreal was intoxicating with a beauty all its own. I once described another city I had traveled to as a place you could drown in without ever touching the water. Montreal has the same effect, and Christopher and Allison were joined together in an incredible ceremony surrounded by friends and family on a day right out of a fairytale.
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Congratulations you two! And thank you for letting me be a part of your big day.
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It was close to midnight on the wedding night when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I put down the case of equipment I was carrying to see Nick standing beside me, looking back over the dancing group of his wedding reception. He said without turning “It’s been quite the day” I agreed with a nod, uncharacteristically out of words as we stood for a minute in companionable silence, watching as Elissa danced from group to group, trailing laughter and smiles in her wake. I glanced at Nick, noted that his eyes never left her even for a moment, and smiled “You haven’t stopped staring all day my friend” he laughed “Can you blame me?” and of course I couldn’t, Elissa was radiant, her ever present smile mirrored by everyone around her. “You have quite the family here Nick” his agreement was a smile, and as he put down his beer to head back to the party he said over his shoulder “You should know, you’re a part of it” and humbled, yet again beyond words I raised my beer in a silent toast to the couple as Nick moved into the circle of dancers, joining in with the laughter and smiling faces that made up an incredible group of people that had traveled from across the world to watch them become Husband and Wife in Gibson on the sunshine coast.

We met on a cold Autumn day. Bundled in coats and scarves we made our way to Kamloops Lake with coffees in hand to take some engagement photos amongst the falling leaves. That evening began a friendship that quickly became as natural and comfortable as if we had known each other for years. That’s just the type of people Kimi and Kevin are. They take you into their lives and offer you a place there for as long as you’d like, the perfect hosts to any friendship. Two of the most compassionate and caring people I have ever met they spent their wedding day surrounded by people that shared this trait. We were welcomed with open arms to a celebration that was beautiful in its simplicity and felt like it could have lasted days and no one would have noticed the time passing.
Thank you Kimi and Kevin for allowing us to be a part of your wedding.

I have told the beginning part of this story multiple times over the years. All my athletes will remember it cropping up from time to time before graduation day. But now that my sports world and wedding world have overlapped, I suppose it would make sense to explain it here.

This will explain why I had to excuse myself from the room under the pretense of taking photos of the grooms suit momentarily after reading the thank you note from Alex and Anica on the morning of their wedding.

The world of a sports photographer is very different from that of a wedding photographer. And for many years before I spent my summer weekends and weekdays wearing a suit and taking photos of peoples “I Do’s” I was curled up on the side of a court / pitch / field with a monopod and a large telephoto lens, waiting for moments that flashed by at 1/2500th of a second.

As a sports photographer your interaction with your subject is limited to expression and the moments that appear between moments, if that is explainable. You don’t direct your subject, but catch the fractions of a second in which they triumph, or come up short. You see the frustration, the elation, the joy and the heart break that accompanies athletic endeavors. You see the flashes of expression that no one else does, and through that, you come to care about them.

And if you take photos of that athlete for long enough, you find yourself potentially missing photos during a particularly important moment as your breath stops and you watch in anticipation, cheering for them silently. You’re watching a career flash by at 1/1000th of a second. It is an incredible privilege to be witness to these moments, and for many years of my athletic photography career, Anica and Alex were two of those athletes.

When I started work for the TRU Wolfpack in 2009, they were two of the first athletes I took photos of, along with Brad Pape their coach, with whom I share a love of cars, we developed a friendship over the years until 2010 and ’13 respectively when Alex and Anica graduated.

Even then, Anica asked if I could come and take some photos of her at her convocation, and when she stood up to walk across the stage I found myself clapping and cheering as loud as anyone.

These two had been a part of my life for a long time by that point. And it was with a laugh and exchanged hugs over a coffee that I was asked to take pictures at their wedding. I was well over a hundred weddings in my ever changing photographic career, yet on the wedding morning, as I strapped on my camera equipment with a routine so engrained I performed the adjustments by auto pilot, I found myself thinking about all the years of tournaments and practices of taking photos of these two. Watching as they cheered for each other, supported each other, laughed at each other more often than not, and grew from almost rookies to graduates in front of my eyes.
As I often am on these mornings, I was humbled by the trust put in me and my assistants in creating the photos that would document one of the most important days of a couple’s life.

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So thank you, you two, for the trust, and for all the years of moments between moments. And I admit, as I watched you two walk back down the aisle towards me, my breath may have caught yet again, and silently, I cheered as much as I had so vocally at any of your tournaments.
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